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    Locuri întunecate
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    Locuri întunecate
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    Locuri întunecate
    Ebook476 pages7 hours

    Locuri întunecate

    By Flynn Gillian

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Libby Day avea șapte ani când mama și surorile ei au fost ucise în „Sacrificiul Satanic“ din Kinnakee, Kansas. Ea a scăpat și a depus mărturie că Ben, fratele său mai mare, a comis crimele. Douăzeci și cinci de ani mai târziu, Club Omor — o societate secretă pasionată de crime celebre — o contactează pe Libby și o presează să le ofere detalii despre acea noapte sângeroasă, pledând pentru nevinovăția lui Ben. Libby se implică în investigație, dar pe măsură ce aceasta o poartă din cluburile sordide de striptease din Missouri până în orașele turistice abandonate din Oklahoma, adevărul inimaginabil iese la iveală. Ajunge, așadar, în punctul de unde a pornit: fugind din calea unui ucigaș.


    „O poveste care-ți dă fiori, condusă cu măiestrie de un autor incredibil de talentat.“ – Chicago Tribune


    „Romanul lui Gillian Flynn este o evocare fidelă a vieții din micile orașe americane de provincie.“ – The Guardian


    „Plasat într un decor sumbru din Midwest, Locuri întunecate descrie existența sordidă a indivizilor lipsiți de moralitate într un stil la fel de fascinant precum cel al lui Truman Capote în Cu sânge rece.“ – Daily Mail


    „Pași grei de picioare încălțate cu bocanci și piciorușele lui Debby fugind, încă nu era moartă, fugind spre camera lui mami și eu gândind nu, nu veni aici, apoi bocancii zguduind dușumelele în spatele ei, apoi agățat și zgâriat la ușă și alte bolboroseli gâlgâite, horcăieli și izbituri, apoi un bufnet și sunetul toporului și mama încă scoțând țipete subțiri și oribile de pasăre rănită, iar eu stând acolo, înghețată, în dormitorul lui mami, ciulind urechea, și urechea asurzindu-mi iarăși de încă un bubuit al puștii, apoi un zuruit care a făcut să vibreze scândurile de sub picioarele mele.“

    LanguageRomână
    PublisherTrei
    Release dateJun 14, 2016
    ISBN9786067191066
    Unavailable
    Locuri întunecate

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    Reviews for Locuri întunecate

    4/5

    2,668 ratings205 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Started slow but I wound up enjoying the outcome quite a bit.
    • 5/5
      I think this is Flynn's best so far. I had no idea whodunit until she wanted me to! I love her characters, who are flawed and often unlikeable but very real. Excellent read.
    • 4/5
      A very fun read with sharp language and entertaining turns, as always. Minus maybe half a star for some improbable twists, but I still enjoyed the ride.
    • 3/5
      An intriguing family murder whodunit with a bit of suspenseful thriller woven in. Libby is an interesting character, with her trustfund-trauma dysfunctional upbringing.
      While the mystery is more or less resolved, there is little to know about Libby's future. Just because she has closure does not been she will magically resolve her lazy bad habits and miraculously get a job and end her financial woes. But maybe that is beyond the scope of the story.
    • 4/5
      OMG you guys I am officially a Gillian Flynn fangirl! This book doesn't just stab you in the gut, it twists the knife and watches all the gory bits that come out.

      Flynn is kind of unusual in that her books have no real "heroes." Just because a person is "innocent," that does not automatically mean he or she is "good" or even "nice." But somehow, Flynn makes you want to stick with her characters right to the end. Libby has flaws, to put it lightly - she is selfish, aggressive, even violent, yet at the same time you don't want anything bad to happen to her.
    • 4/5
      Wow! I have never read a book with so many unlikable characters. Libby, the main character, is totally unlikeable and it so hard to feel sorry for her even though she went through this horrible tragedy. It's actually that tragedy that made her so unlikeable. But despite not liking the characters, I still got caught up in the mystery and wondering exactly what happened that night Libby's family was killed. Was Ben guilty? Or was someone else the murderer and Ben set up? I kept trying to figure out the killer and I was partly correct. I must say, I do like Gillian Flynn's writing style. I read Gone Girl and was amazed by the twists and turns. This book didn't have the twists and turns but she painted a horribly accurate picture of families living in poverty. I think I will go on to read Sharp Objects and see what that one's about and compare it to these two.
    • 3/5
      Flynn writes well, but really seems to relish the darker subject matter. I didn't care for the protagonist. She is weak and hard to empathize with despite the tragedy in her life but it picks up speed in the second half and has a satisfying ending.
    • 4/5
      Couldn't put it down! A bit gruesome at the end... And I'm not even sure I liked the ending. But it was GOOOOOOOD.
    • 4/5
      I read this book as a group buddy read with Kandice, Caroline, and Mary.Yet another book without chapter numbers or unique titles and that makes buddy reads really challenging unless everyone’s book edition has the same number of pages and spoilers can be done with page numbers vs. chapter numbers/titles.I was hooked from the start, but 20 days was more than enough to spend with these characters. I’m eager to move on to other books. In the time of COVID-19 I’d be disconsolate if this was the last book I ever read. I’m not sure I’ve read another book with so many despicable characters and so few likeable or sympathetic ones, though luckily I could muster up sympathy (and empathy) for a few of them. This was perverse in the worst ways. I could have definitely done without some of the graphic descriptions of violence, and not just against humans.The person I consider to be the main character was interesting. Talk about trauma induced PTSD being fixated at a younger stage and stuck. That condition was shown perfectly via this character.I read a lot of thrillers and mysteries and the more I read the more likely I am to guess the reveal(s). Here at one point I contemplated one thing that came to pass but not the details of it. The rest took me by surprise. I admire how the author did give a lot of clues in the story, but even though I knew to pay attention to everything I missed a lot of what was important to the central story. It’s a well-crafted story though there is nothing special about the writing. Then again, different characters take turns narrating and the words coming from them, the writing, seems spot on.There were a few characters I could care about a little and at times I felt the suspense, but in general I didn’t care THAT much. I was curious to find out what had happened though and what would happen. I also have to say that there was one character I loathed and felt a bit guilty for doing so because of the circumstances and I guess I do feel a bit badly but not as much as I would with 99% of other characters or most people.Wow! Geez, what a horrid bunch of characters and what a twisted book. Yet, I remained interested and always wanted to read to the end.
    • 4/5
      Dark Places by Gillian Flynn-Audio Version I enjoyed this dark, messed up novel!

      Gone Girl was my first Gillian Flynn read. I listened to that one on audio as well and I enjoyed how there were two narrators and the chapters alternated between them.

      I put a reserve in at the library for this one and was interested to see that this audio book had 4 narrators- I expected to be pleased with the outcome-and I was.

      Libby Day, the sole surviving member of the Day family, (except for Ben Day, currently incarcerated for the crime), is not very likable. Despite that, I did like her. In spite of her attitude, her kleptomania, her snarky inner thoughts and verbal comments, I liked her. She's a tough shit. It takes a lot to survive the slaughter of your family and if anything, Libby is a survivor.

      The book follows Libby as she finally gathers the courage to discover whether or not her brother Ben perpetrated this horrible crime. She's a complex character and she develops even more throughout this story.

      Overall, this book was an excellent, suspenseful, mystery. The reason that I gave it four stars instead of five was due to the ending. There was one portion that was a little over the top as far as being realistic to me-I just couldn't believe it. It didn't ruin the story for me or anything, I just thought it was a bit...too much.

      Other than that, I highly recommend this book, (especially the audio-the narrators were all fantastic), to fans of thrillers and mysteries.
    • 4/5
      I'm so torn in how to rate this book. It is aptly titled. It is so very dark, detailed, despairing and well...just unbelievably DARK. And yet, as Gillian Flynn is so talented at doing, it draws you in with the writing style and the suspense. For those who are easily offended or turned off by graphic gory detail or profane language..steer clear of this one. If you can tolerate these things and hang in there past the first maybe quarter of the book, it is an expertly woven suspenseful novel.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It had a great plot line that kept you on edge. The plot line was new to me, I had never read anything quite like it. It was well written and kept me on the edge of my seat.
    • 3/5
      I tore through this pretty quickly. It was a fun read, just as sordid as Gone Girl. I wasn't a huge fan of Gone Girl but this one was a little better in my eyes. There were some plot lines I felt it didn't need - but that's a red herring for you I guess. And while I haven't really liked any of her characters (and I think it's safe to say that she doesn't intend for them to be liked) I appreciate that she writes her female characters as more complex and dark than typical. All in all, quite fun!
    • 4/5
      There are a lot of awful, uncomfortable things that happen in this book. But it's all worth it to watch the mystery unravel.
    • 5/5
      This story follows Libby Day, a then seven years who survived when her mother and two sisters were murdered and testified it was her fifteen-year-old brother Ben. This story follows the aftermath of that night as she tries to piece everything together to find out if Ben is the real killer or is someone still out there.

      This book left me in suspense every turning of the page. The could not put this book down, it had me second guessing my own thoughts of who I thought did it. So meaning theories and scenarios leaves the reader engrossed. Gillian Flynn has become one of my favorite authors.
    • 4/5
      I keep wavering on what rating to give Gillian Flynn novels. They're all tightly plotted, suspenseful, well-written, packed with deliciously fucked-up but extremely realistic characters...really everything you'd want in a good thriller plus an extra heap of authorial writing prowess. But then I compare them to my favorite literary fiction and realize they don't quite leave me with the same searing mental and emotional impact after the fact. While Flynn's novels are a joy to read and an examplar of brilliant genre writing, they don't transcend the genre or stick with me much. Maybe she'll get there in her later work, if she develops this theme about the media that's lurking in the background of Dark Places and that rises to the forefront of Gone Girl. I wish I could give this book 4.5 stars to express that.
    • 2/5
      Maybe if the lead young female character were stronger or more well adjusted or even a little bit self-motivated I could have found this book to be entertaining. Not a thriller.
    • 2/5
      This book was included in the download with Sharp Objects, that is why I read it even though I swore I wouldn’t read any more Gillian Flynn.

      The murder in this book happened 24 years before the story starts and the murderer is behind bars. The Day family was massacred and seven-year old Libby testified against her brother, Ben, resulting in his conviction. Since then Libby has been living from relative to relative, paying her expenses with money raised through charity and a book deal. Now the money is running out and Libby is not qualified – or doesn’t want to – work. These circumstances lead to her contacting a group willing to pay for her to appear at a “Murder Convention”, what she is not told, this group believes Ben is innocent. They want Libby to help them get him released from prison. Libby doesn't like thinking about that day, she calls the memories, "Dark Places", but she needs – wants money, so she agrees to contact, her brother, her father and others to find out the truth.

      The story is told from two different points of view, Libby’s in the present, first person narrative, and in the past, the day of the murder third person narrative, told from differing points of view. So you know you’re going to find out what really happened. There is a twist at the end though.

      Libby is not a sympathetic character, she is also not ‘strong woman protagonist’, she is whiny and manipulative, she doesn’t see any reason to be a responsible adult, I don’t remember if she got therapy after the murder of her family, but she is definitely a damaged person. Much like Camille is in “Sharp Objects”, Libby however, makes no attempt to get better, just spends time blaming everyone else for her problems. Another offering that didn’t thrill me.
    • 4/5
      Really good. It jumps back and forth in time, but is easy to follow. The story is a page turner and a good mystery and keeps you guessing the entire time.
    • 4/5
      When reading mysteries I'm always trying to guess "who did it", and am disappointed when the book is predictable. This book is NOT going to disappoint. Much like Gone Girl, it is full of twist and turns that keep the reader guessing and quickly flipping the pages. Readers beware, it is a bit gruesome at points, the story is dark, but it is so worth reading! Another great thriller from Gillian Flynn!
    • 2/5
      Dark Places. Gillian Flynn. 2009. Talk about dark; this book is just as dark as Gone Girl. Libby Day was the only survivor when her brother went on a horrific murder spree and killed their mother and their sisters. She has lived in the shadow of the murders and in the shadows of life since then. When she is notified that she is running out of the money she has been living on as a result of the murders, she contacts a man who is involved with a “murder club.” This man and offers to pay her for family memorabilia and to appear at some of the club meetings. At the first meeting she meets a group of people who believe that her brother was not the killer and are willing to pay her to help them prove this. Libby begins to question her own role in convicting her brother and becomes determined to find out the truth. The story is told in back flashes from the viewpoint of her mother, her brother, Libby and several other characters. There were several intriguing plot twists. This was a good Kindle book to read on the treadmill!
    • 4/5
      Dark Places is the first novel by Gillian Flynn I've read and I must say that I loved it. The story was complex and creepy; it was hard for me to put it down. I didn't want to stop reading until I knew for sure what exactly happened that led to the deaths of a normal family. I know a lot of people said that the character of Libby Day was unlikeable but I couldn't help but like her! She had so many issues; she was rude, selfish, careless, and so many other things but I was rooting for her from the start. I wanted her to find out what really happened that night as badly as I wanted to know for myself. The fact that I couldn't figure out how the book was going to end was amazing since a lot of times I can at least semi-guess how something will end. I also loved how we were given different perspectives. One from Libby in present time, one from Patty (the mother) on the day of and before the murders, and then Ben (the brother/ suspected murderer) also in the past. These different perspectives helped clear up all the loose ends and made the ending feel complete. I can't wait to get the rest of Gillian Flynn’s books because one just isn't enough for me.
    • 4/5
      Very dark and intense mystery that was refreshing because it was so different from anything else I've read in quite a while. Absolutely wonderful prose. Gillian writes very unique metaphors and similes that were constantly catching my eye. I went with 4 stars over 5 since I thought part of the ending reveal was too blatantly hinted at early in the book for me. Don't get me wrong though, there were definitely twists and surprises a plenty!
    • 4/5
      Libby was only 7 years-old when her 15-year old brother, Ben, murdered her mother and two sisters. Libby could hear it all happening and managed to escape. Now, Libby's 31 and her brother had been in jail almost 25 years. She has mostly tried to forget that night, but when she needs money, she meets up with a group of people to talk about it. What she didn't know was that the group would be a bit hostile toward her, blaming her for her testimony which – they believe – wrongly put Ben in jail. She decides she must look further into it to find out what really happened. This was really good. I listened to the audio. It got my attention at the start and kept my attention. It went back and forth in time between Libby, present day, back to the day before and the morning of the murders, Jan. 2-3, 1985. In the flashbacks, we got to see Libby's mother's and Ben's points of view, as well. I will admit – at least closer to the start – to not being as interested in these flashbacks. Of course, that changed the closer we got to the murders.
    • 4/5
      Six-word review: Aftermath of horrific crime never ends.Extended review:Be warned by the title: this novel is very dark indeed.After reading all three of her novels published to date (this being the second and by far the darkest), I have to say that Gillian Flynn either knows, or imagines, or is some very, very strange women.In this case the woman is the survivor of a murderous rampage that took the lives of her mother and two sisters. Only seven at the time, Libby Day escaped and later supplied court testimony that sent her older brother Ben to prison for the deed. Her life has been understandably overshadowed by the experience, but even at that Libby seems to be a profoundly warped individual. It is a tribute to the genius of the author that we can identify with her at all sympathetically.Now in her thirties, Libby is forced to revisit the circumstances surrounding a soul-destroying event that has shaped her life and reexamine the validity of her own testimony.Libby is also surrounded by characters who are in their own way as messed up as she, conferring on her an appearance of relative normality that is creepy in itself.Even though the narrative stays within the realm of the real, meaning that there's no magic, no fantasy, no supernatural agents, nothing that would be impossible in the course of real-world cause and effect, Flynn's stories push the boundaries of the probable and the plausible pretty hard. It's the treading just barely within the constraints of consensual reality that gives them an eerie, shuddery quality that prickles the skin: that and a gripping style that reaches for the edges of words and grasps them by their sharp sides.For a single example, here's the sort of line I love in Gillian Flynn's writing: "The frenetic, zigzag music started scribbling on Ben's brain" (page 272).There's also a description of tripping, starting on page 274, that is so vivid that it makes me feel as if I were on something myself. I can't attest to the authenticity of it, but it sounds genuine to me.On the other hand, Gillian, just to let you know: I wish I didn't keep running into lines like this: "Her lips were plump as labias" (page 305). Restated, Gillian, that would be "Her lips were as plump as lipses." We know what you mean, and we get the intended effect, but it still counts as a black mark. Labia is a plural already, the Latin plural of labium, and it means "lips." Authors can't do everything; but your editor, whose job it is to spare you embarrassment, should have caught this.I awarded four stars to this work, not recommended for overly sensitive souls, but surely one of the most extraordinary explorations of family bonds and of coming to terms with personal history that I have seen in a while.
    • 5/5
      The Basics

      Libby Day’s mother and two sisters were murdered when she was seven years old. When asked who did it, she said without hesitation that it was her brother, Ben. Now upon being contacted by a club of murder case enthusiasts, she’s wondering if she was right. She sets out on a mission to, well, make some money but also hopefully to find some answers.

      My Thoughts

      Gillian Flynn strikes again. On the heels of Gone Girl, I found myself obsessed with obtaining and blasting through her other, two books. I tackled this one first, and it’s proven to be my favorite of her work thus far. Deeply written, fully realized characters at the center of a crazy, incredible, gory mystery. It really is all I could’ve hoped for in a thriller and more. Calling it a thriller feels small, because it’s of such a quality that you so rarely see in the genre.

      Libby is one of the most engaging and fascinating heroines I’ve ever read. She’s flawed and unique. She’s snarky and cold, yet not distant to us as an audience. She’s damaged and relatable. The thing that had me from the very first page was Libby. I wanted to follow her, and I wanted to hear her voice. Flynn cackles in the face of this idea of “likeable” characters. She writes intensely interesting characters with real world problems, and I welcome that a lot sooner than a female lead who is picture perfect.

      Along with Libby’s journey to find the truth, we get point-of-view chapters from her mother and brother the day of the murders. We get a firsthand view of the desperation her mother faced, the depression and peer pressure piling atop fifteen-year-old Ben, and the circumstances that led to such catastrophe. I will say that while I found Patty to be a tragic figure, I wasn’t as keen on Ben. Yet here’s the rub: I’m not sure we were supposed to be. Regardless of the outcome, Ben is still a person with an illness, and Flynn simply presents that without trying to create an anti-hero of him, as she does with Patty and Libby as well. It’s less about Flynn’s opinions and more about your own mileage.

      I’ve heard some people didn’t buy the ending, but I actually loved how much she caught me off guard with it. I could never have seen that coming. The clues were there, and yet I wouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion. I appreciate it wasn’t entirely out of left field, but it was still shocking. That’s a precarious balance, and she does it well.

      What am I saying? She did everything in this book well. The entire experience was amazing, and I simply can’t get enough of her work.

      Final Rating

      5/5
    • 5/5
      I agree with the high praise for Gillian Flynn in the earlier reviews posted below. I, too, decided to read more of her work after reading Gone Girl. Generally, I don't like this genre of mystery writing, but Ms. Flynn develops her characters so well that the story has depth I so often find lacking in this kind of book. I'm sure to read more by this author.
    • 4/5
      I really got into this novel. It is a great murder mystery. A real who done it? This one is not at all predictable and I liked that. It reminded me of Stephen King with the evil elements and the horrific murders. We follow Libby as she meets up with people from her past and tries to clarify what really did happen to her mother and two sisters on that fateful day back on the farm. This story travels back and forth between the present and the past. It is hold on to the edge of your seat suspenseful. Beware, this book is like a drug once you start reading you can’t quit!!! I read it in only two days. It is horrifying and bad and slightly gross, but you just have to know what happened. The characters all have their problems, but they are almost likeable realistic people. This book to me had a little different feel than Gone Girl. In Gone Girl you knew what the characters were thinking and were in their heads. This book has more action and less psychological character input. Dark Places is well thought out and well written. I liked Gone Girl just a tad better than this one. This is a great book and I was . I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      Review Contains Major SpoilersI have pretty mixed feelings on Flynn's worldview in general. I haven't read Sharp Objects, but I have read Gone Girl, and I see a few striking similarities in the way that the characters in each novel are drawn. In both Dark Places and Gone Girl, each of the characters is fundamentally incapable (and I would even venture to say disinterested) in any sort of connection with another human being. All of Libby's interactions are superficial and self-interested, and she even feels disdain/confusion toward Lyle in a few places for wanting to get to know her a little better or for considering her a friend. Both in Dark Places and in Gone Girl the characters value artifice and one-upsmanhip over authenticity or emotion. Flynn certainly knows how to craft a plot, but I just don't buy any of her characters and their motivations. Maybe I would be less fatigued by Flynn's characters if I hadn't read Gone Girl first, or if I had just read one of them, but taken together it seems that Flynn has a very specific worldview, and it's one that I'm not sold on. I also think the ending fell a little short of the mystery and intrigue in the lead-up. The double murder thing was just a little too clever for me to swallow. I buy that Diondra would have killed Michelle, but Ben's inaction and lack of surprise really grated on me. Especially since he just let Diondra turn the murders into a Satanic scene. It felt weird that he didn't at least raise a token objection at any point in the process. I think I was hoping that Trey was more involved. He was pretty convincingly drawn as an asshole, and his presence at the murders would have been more plausible. It also would have been more plausible for the baby to have been Trey's, in my opinion, but that would have screwed up the ending with the whole Baby Day thing.Overall, I did like Dark Places while I was reading it, but I don't think it's going to stick with me, and parts of it certainly felt like a let down.
    • 3/5
      I originally went to the library to get one of Flynn's other works, [Gone Girl], but I picked up Dark Places instead because Gone Girl was, ha-ha, gone. This is the first of Flynn's works that I've ever read, and while I finished it quickly and found it fairly interesting, I must say I don't really see what all the hype is about.The one thing that put me off about this book is that much of what happens in the story seems to have been put in there just for shock value. Libby's first experience with the "Kill Club" at their underground meeting almost made me physically sick--I am an avid horror/thriller reader and not easily shocked nor quickly sickened--and I really don't see what the gritty, dark, creepy, and just deeply gross atmosphere added to the plot. The many different subplots that lead up to the murder just seem overly dramatic and unrealistic, especially since they somehow all happen at the same time. Flynn hits all the typical shock-worthy bases: a paedophilia scandal, teen pregnancy, sex, drugs, heavy metal, American farm life and poverty, angry teenagers and family drama, deadbeat dads, absentee rich parents, people whose lives were ruined by the ups and downs of the economy, life insurance fraud, incompetent mothers, etc., etc.. A combination of one or two of these elements might have made a really excellent, intricate story, but trying to shove them all into one big, dramatic bundle just makes it feel like Flynn was trying too hard to be shocking and edgy.All the same, it's not a bad story. You do want to find out who was responsible for the gruesome murders, and you want to see how (or if) Libby finally comes to terms with her life and what's happened in it. I would recommend it to people who already like mysteries and thrillers, but I wouldn't encourage someone who's never read the genre to start with this one.